Evolutionary and Neurocognitive Approaches to Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts

Evolutionary and Neurocognitive Approaches to Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts PDF Author: Colin Martindale
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351844547
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, well-known scholars describe new and exciting approaches to aesthetics, creativity and psychology of the arts, approaching these topics from a point of view that is biological or related to biology and answering new questions with new methods and theories. All known societies produce and enjoy arts such as literature, music and visual decoration or depiction. Judging from prehistoric archaeological evidence, this arose very early in human development. Furthermore, Darwin was explicit in attributing aesthetic sensitivity to lower animals. These considerations lead us to wonder whether the arts might not be evolutionarily based. Although such an evolutionary basis is not obvious on the face of it, the idea has recently elicited considerable attention. The book begins with a consideration of ten theories on the evolutionary function of specific arts such as music and literature. The theory of evolution was first drawn up in biology, but evolution is not confined to biology: genuinely evolutionary theories of sociocultural change can be formulated. That they need to be formulated is shown in several chapters that discuss regular trends in literature and scientific writings. Psychologists have recently rediscovered the obvious fact that thought and perception occur in the brain, so cognitive science moves ever closer to neuroscience. Several chapters give overviews of neurocognitive and neural network approaches to creativity and aesthetic appreciation. The book concludes with two exciting describing brain-scan research on what happens in the brain during creativity and presenting a close examination of the relationship between genetically transmitted mental disorder and creativity.

Evolutionary and Neurocognitive Approaches to Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts

Evolutionary and Neurocognitive Approaches to Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts PDF Author: Colin Martindale
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351844547
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, well-known scholars describe new and exciting approaches to aesthetics, creativity and psychology of the arts, approaching these topics from a point of view that is biological or related to biology and answering new questions with new methods and theories. All known societies produce and enjoy arts such as literature, music and visual decoration or depiction. Judging from prehistoric archaeological evidence, this arose very early in human development. Furthermore, Darwin was explicit in attributing aesthetic sensitivity to lower animals. These considerations lead us to wonder whether the arts might not be evolutionarily based. Although such an evolutionary basis is not obvious on the face of it, the idea has recently elicited considerable attention. The book begins with a consideration of ten theories on the evolutionary function of specific arts such as music and literature. The theory of evolution was first drawn up in biology, but evolution is not confined to biology: genuinely evolutionary theories of sociocultural change can be formulated. That they need to be formulated is shown in several chapters that discuss regular trends in literature and scientific writings. Psychologists have recently rediscovered the obvious fact that thought and perception occur in the brain, so cognitive science moves ever closer to neuroscience. Several chapters give overviews of neurocognitive and neural network approaches to creativity and aesthetic appreciation. The book concludes with two exciting describing brain-scan research on what happens in the brain during creativity and presenting a close examination of the relationship between genetically transmitted mental disorder and creativity.

Evolutionary Psychology and Information Systems Research

Evolutionary Psychology and Information Systems Research PDF Author: Ned Kock
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441961399
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is a compilation of chapters written by leading researchers from all over the world. Those researchers’ common characteristic is that they have investigated issues at the intersection of the elds of information systems (IS) and evoluti- ary psychology (EP). The main goal of this book is to serve as a reference for IS research building on EP concepts and theories (in short, IS-EP research). The book is organized in three main parts: Part I focuses on EP concepts and theories that can be used as a basis for IS-EP research; Part II provides several exemplars of IS-EP research in practice; and Part III summarizes emerging issues and debate that can inform IS-EP research, including debate regarding philosophical foundations and credibility of related ndings. IS-EP research is generally concerned with the use of concepts and theories from EP in the study of IS, particularly regarding the impact of modern information and communication technologies on the behavior of individuals, groups, and organi- tions. From a practitioners’ perspective, the most immediate consumers of IS-EP research are those who develop and use IS, of which a large contingent are in bu- nesses that employ IS to support marketing, order-taking, production, and delivery of goods and services. In this context, IS-EP ndings may be particularly useful due to the present need to design web-based interfaces that will be used by in- viduals from different cultures, and often different countries, and whose common denominator is their human nature.

Adam's Tongue

Adam's Tongue PDF Author: Derek Bickerton
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0809022818
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the world's leading researchers into the evolution of language argues that the acquisition of words changed the structure of early human's brains, which set into motion the limitless creativity that allowed people to make the world that exists today.

Epistemological Dimensions of Evolutionary Psychology

Epistemological Dimensions of Evolutionary Psychology PDF Author: Thiemo Breyer
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1493913875
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book Here

Book Description
​​​​​As psychology and philosophy arose as answers to the eternal question of how the mind works, evolutionary psychology has gained ground over recent years as a link between cognitive-behavioral and natural-science theories of the mind. This provocative field has also gathered a wide range of criticisms, from attributing too much autonomy to the brain to basing itself on faulty assumptions about our prehistoric past. Epistemological Dimensions of Evolutionary Psychology reframes its discipline for the contemporary era, correcting common misconceptions and mediating between different schools of thought. By focusing on the nature and limits of knowledge and reasoning--the essence of epistemology--contributors offer fresh insights at the intersection of human cognitive abilities as adaptations and our self-perception of knowledge, including evolutionary perspectives on altruism, depression, or the phasing out of human sacrifice. This diversity strengthens and vindicates the field, as evinced by thought-provoking dispatches such as: Toward a cognitive philosophy of science. Evolutionary media psychology and its epistemological foundation. The "meme" meme revisited. Depression as an adaptation. Like me: a homophily-based account of human culture. Preparedness to learn about the world: evidence from infant research. An engaging and often controversial testament to the combined power of evolution and logic, Epistemological Dimensions of Evolutionary Psychology will intrigue philosophers as well as psychologists in a variety of subdisciplines.

The Woman That Never Evolved

The Woman That Never Evolved PDF Author: Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674038878
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
What does it mean to be female? Sarah Blaffer Hrdy--a sociobiologist and a feminist--believes that evolutionary biology can provide some surprising answers. Surprising to those feminists who mistakenly think that biology can only work against women. And surprising to those biologists who incorrectly believe that natural selection operates only on males. In The Woman That Never Evolved we are introduced to our nearest female relatives competitive, independent, sexually assertive primates who have every bit as much at stake in the evolutionary game as their male counterparts do. These females compete among themselves for rank and resources, but will bond together for mutual defense. They risk their lives to protect their young, yet consort with the very male who murdered their offspring when successful reproduction depends upon it. They tolerate other breeding females if food is plentiful, but chase them away when monogamy is the optimal strategy. When "promiscuity" is an advantage, female primates--like their human cousins--exhibit a sexual appetite that ensures a range of breeding partners. From case after case we are led to the conclusion that the sexually passive, noncompetitive, all-nurturing woman of prevailing myth never could have evolved within the primate order. Yet males are almost universally dominant over females in primate species, and Homo sapiens is no exception. As we see from this book, women are in some ways the most oppressed of all female primates. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy is convinced that to redress sexual inequality in human societies, we must first understand its evolutionary origins. We cannot travel back in time to meet our own remote ancestors, but we can study those surrogates we have--the other living primates. If women --and not biology--are to control their own destiny, they must understand the past and, as this book shows us, the biological legacy they have inherited.

Spent

Spent PDF Author: Geoffrey Miller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780670020621
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Get Book Here

Book Description
Explores how evolutionary psychology has begun to identify the prehistoric origins of human behavior and discusses how those discoveries have influenced the way consumer spending is viewed and controlled by companies, retailers, and marketers.

Psychology of Reasoning

Psychology of Reasoning PDF Author: K. I. Manktelow
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9781841693101
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
This collection brings together a set of specially commissioned chapters from leading international researchers in the psychology of reasoning. Its purpose is to explore the historical, philosophical and theoretical implications of the development of this field. Taking the unusual approach of engaging not only with empirical data but also with the ideas and concepts underpinning the psychology of reasoning, this volume has important implications both for psychologists and other students of cognition, including philosophers. Sub-fields covered include mental logic, mental models, rational analysis, social judgement theory, game theory and evolutionary theory. There are also specific chapters dedicated to the history of syllogistic reasoning, the psychology of reasoning as it operates in scientific theory and practice, Brunswickian approaches to reasoning and task environments, and the implications of Popper's philosophy for models of behaviour testing. This cross-disciplinary dialogue and the range of material covered makes this an invaluable reference for students and researchers into the psychology and philosophy of reasoning.

The Innate Mind

The Innate Mind PDF Author: Peter Carruthers
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190450339
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 455

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the third volume of a three-volume set on The Innate Mind. The extent to which cognitive structures, processes, and contents are innate is one of the central questions concerning the nature of the mind, with important implications for debates throughout the human sciences. By bringing together the top nativist scholars in philosophy, psychology, and allied disciplines these volumes provide a comprehensive assessment of nativist thought and a definitive reference point for future nativist inquiry. The Innate Mind: Volume 3: Foundations and the Future, concerns a variety of foundational issues as well as questions about the direction of future nativist research. It addresses such questions as: What is innateness? Is it a confused notion? What is at stake in debates between nativists and empiricists? What is the relationship between genes and innateness? How do innate structures and learned information interact to produce adult forms of cognition, e.g. about number, and how does such learning take place? What innate abilities underlie the creative aspect of language, and of creative cognition generally? What are the innate foundations of human motivation, and of human moral cognition? In the course of their discussions, many of the contributors pose the question (whether explicitly or implicitly): Where next for nativist research? Together, these three volumes provide the most intensive and richly cross-disciplinary investigation of nativism ever undertaken. They point the way toward a synthesis of nativist work that promises to provide a powerful picture of our minds and their place in the natural order.

Evolutionary Psychology and Motivation

Evolutionary Psychology and Motivation PDF Author: Jeffrey A. French
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803229266
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book Here

Book Description
Recent media coverage of the controversial theory of sexual violence as a product of biological evolution has once again brought the question of the origins of human motivation into the public eye. In this volume, leading scholars in behavioral studies examine the value of evolutionary perspectives in understanding psychological motivations. Beginning with the fundamental fact that humans are part of the biological world, evolutionary psychologists contend that human motivations and mental processes should be understood as by-products of natural selection. By viewing human psychology?both normal and abnormal?within this framework, evolutionary psychologists intend to bridge the disciplinary divide between traditional psychology and fields such as biology.

Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication

Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication PDF Author: Dawn O. Braithwaite
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1483355268
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Get Book Here

Book Description
Winner of the 2017 NCA Gerald R. Miller Book Award! Use and Understand Interpersonal Communication Theories Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication: Multiple Perspectives highlights key theories used to guide interpersonal communication research. The Second Edition features 30 theory chapters written by leading scholars in interpersonal communication, including new coverage of evolutionary theories, Problematic Integration Theory, supportive communication theories, Theory of Motivated Information Management, critical approaches to interpersonal communication, and Media Multiplexity Theory. Each theory chapter follows the same structure to help readers easily find and compare information across theories. An updated introductory chapter maps the history and the current state of interpersonal communication theory since publication of the first edition, based on comprehensive analysis of published scholarship. Presenting both classic and cutting-edge issues, the book organizes theories into three clusters—theories that are individually-centered; theories that are focused on discourse and interaction processes; and theories that examine how communication functions in personal relationships. All authors interweave abstract theoretical concepts with concrete examples in order to maximize readability and comprehension.